The invention relates to toilet roll dispensers capable of holding a spare roll of toilet paper for dispensing after a primary roll of toilet paper has been exhausted.
A common concern in providing toilet paper for use in public facilities is the provision of extra rolls of toilet paper in dispensers. The provision of extra rolls in a toilet paper dispenser allows for less time to be spent on maintenance to ensure that the dispensers have an adequate supply of toilet paper. However, there must also be a means provided to ensure that the extra rolls are not accessible until needed, to prevent waste and theft. An additional concern is keeping the size of the dispenser to a minimum, both to optimize the use of space within the bathroom stall and to enhance aesthetics.
Prior art dispensers have attempted to address these problems. U.S. Pat. No. 5,265,816, issued Nov. 30, 1993 to Collins, discloses a double roll tissue dispenser that has the rolls mounted side-by-side on fixed roll supports. A slider located beneath the roll supports allows access to only one roll at any given time. The slider has extended pivoting spring-loaded arms that surround the roll not being dispensed. The arms are sized to prevent the slider from moving until the roll being dispensed is exhausted. However, the pivoting arms and supporting springs in the Collins dispenser are subject to breakage from users who mishandle the slider through carelessness or excessive force. Also, the side-by-side orientation of the rolls results in a lateral change in dispensing position when the slider is repositioned to access a new roll. This lateral position change can make accessing the new roll difficult for some users.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,645,244, issued Jul. 8, 1997 to Moody, discloses a single or double roll dispenser where the roll supports are mounted on pivoting arms such that the roll being dispensed maintains continual contact with the roll support surface. The roll support surface is slidable to allow dispensing of only one roll at a time. However, the Moody dispenser does not disclose any means of preventing the user from accessing the second roll until the first roll has been exhausted. Also, the side-by-side configuration results in roll positioning problems as discussed previously.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,873,542, issued Feb. 23, 1999 to Perrin et al., discloses a double roll dispenser using a dual mandrel with roll supports mounted on the opposite extreme ends of the mandrel. The mandrel rests in a parallel pair of guide slots formed by the dispenser housing and wall base. The guide slots are shaped such that the mandrel cannot be moved into the lower guide slot position to dispense the second roll until the first roll is almost exhausted. The user manually moves the mandrel by reaching into the dispenser and repositioning the mandrel in the guide slots. The need for the user to manually adjust the mandrel can result in the dispenser being jammed or broken through mishandling of the mandrel by the user. Also, the Perrin et al. dispenser does not provide any means of preventing access to the second roll while the first roll is being dispensed, which can lead to waste or depletion of the second roll while the first roll is only partially exhausted.
Based on the deficiencies in the above prior art, the object of the invention is to provide a dual roll toilet paper dispenser that holds a secondary roll in an inaccessible position until the primary roll is exhausted. The invention also provides a user-activated trigger mechanism to automatically bring the secondary roll into position without any user intervention with the dispenser mechanism.
A further object of the invention is to provide a restrictor such that the trigger mechanism cannot be activated until the primary roll has been exhausted.
The invention is a toilet paper dispenser designed to hold two rolls of toilet paper. The dispenser has a housing containing two roll supports, a primary roll support and a secondary roll support. The secondary roll support is disposed parallel to and vertically above the primary roll support. The secondary roll support is connected to a release mechanism operative to lower the secondary roll support into a position to dispense toilet paper from the secondary roll of toilet paper when the primary roll of toilet paper is exhausted. A roll guard prevents access to the secondary roll until the release mechanism has been activated. The release mechanism is activated by a user-controlled trigger mechanism, preferably a lever, so that a user exhausting the primary roll of toilet paper may access the secondary roll without interfering with the operation of the dispenser.
Preferably, the release mechanism is designed such that the roll supports cannot be moved until the primary roll of toilet paper on the primary roll support is exhausted.